Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Cavs going after Kidd

The Cavs, in need of a point guard, are expected to be putting in a bid. According to sources, the Cavs' front office has been in contact recently with the Nets to gauge their demands. As with the pursuit of Bibby and Garnett, the team is not in a favorable position because it has a limited number of tradable assets.

Plus the Cavs are 12-3 over their last 15 games and have played better as the season has gone along, which might prevent them from tearing up the roster to make such a deal before the Feb. 21 trade deadline.

But Kidd and James became close last summer while helping Team USA qualify for the Olympics. The two established a chemistry on and off the court and began dreaming about playing together in the NBA. In November, Kidd told Sports Illustrated that he and James have had ''a little talk'' about playing together with the Cavs.

For that reason alone, Ferry will be compelled to make an effort to get Kidd.

I'm not sure what the Cavs could offer the Nets, but it's going to be interesting to see where he ends up.

Cleveland's biggest asset is cap relief... after next season (the same time Kidd's contract is up). Unless the Nets dump some long term salary, I can't see Kidd ending up here. Even then, if the Cavs have to take back a lot of salary, it would mean that they'd be giving up at least 3 players and that would be a huge overhaul of the roster in midseason.

The only long term contracts (which go past 08/09) on the Nets roster currently are Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson. And if you think that the Nets will trade both Kidd and either Carter or Jefferson to an Eastern team simply for cap relief....